Team Greece. Day 2 of the Eighth-Final round of the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, Auckland, New Zealand. 07 July 2009.

AUCKLAND (FIBA U19 World Championship) - Greece have made sure of their place in the FIBA U19 World Championship quarter finals with a dominant first half and some cool nerves down the stretch to record a tight 76-72 win over France at ASB Stadium in Auckland.

The Greeks led 21-13 at quarter time and 42-27 at half time to establish a break France could not recover from.

Nikolaos Pappas was the key player offensively, scoring 16 points for the half as Greece outscored their rivals 22-10 in the keyway. Pappas finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

With a guaranteed quarter final place on the line, France made their furious run at the start of the last quarter, going on a 13-3 streak to close the gap to 63-53 with 5:16 remaining. A Kostas Papanikolaou bucket seemed to have stemmed the tide for Greece, but Les Bleus came again.

Christophe Leonard scored off an offensive rebound and then found Bryson Pope for another 2 to reduce the margin to 8 points. Following a big Leonard block on Kostas Sloukas, Jonathan Bourhis nailed his fourth 3-pointer for the game to reduce the margin to 67-72 with 0:32 to play.

Just when a quarter final place seemed in peril, Leonidas Kaselakis and Pappas hit four straight free throws to secure the narrow win.

France will progress to the quarter finals if the USA can defeat Lithuania in tonight’s game at the North Shore Events Centre. A US victory will also see Greece take second place in Group E and face rivals Argentina.